"Hitting the gym every day might do little to decrease your risk of death if you spend the rest of your time sitting down, a new study suggests." (I've emphasised the weasel words)
In the realm of health you can find a study to say anything. I've seen ones that say standing all day is an improvement over sitting, others that say it's the same, and even some that say standing is worse. The thing to look at is summary studies that look at a wide range of well conducted studies to see what the prevailing outcome is.
For example, according to a BBC news article[1], you can make "significant and measurable changes" to your fitness by exercising 3 minutes a week. So if we're debating using news articles, we're at an impasse.
"The results show the time people spend on their derrieres is associated with an increased risk of mortality, regardless of their physical activity level." No weasel words.
Yes you can find a study to say anything, that does not mean all studies are inherently untrustworthy. There are lots of studies showing that long-term sitting is unhealthy. This idea that it is a major risk factor regardless of other additional activities is not new.
"is associated with" is the ultimate weasel phrase. I see this constantly in press accounts of medical research: no distinction whatsoever between correlation and causality. "Red wine decreases your risk of heart disease", etc. In cases where causation has been definitively established (i.e. smoking -> lung cancer), it took a lot more work than an underpowered association study to do so.
The problem is that there is no evidence that suggest standing in front of a computer screen helps at all in those situations as well. You're still stationary. You aren't moving. Moving your feet around below you to adjust the weight on your legs does nothing for your cardiovascular system.
Unfortunately, as people who are tied to their computer screens for most of the day, we have very few options. One is to exercise. My story is one of being in better health than I was when I was in a job moving around all day just to give some perspective to this topic.
there is no evidence that suggests standing in front of a computer screen helps
From the last of the three links I posted:
"They found that standing up engages muscles and promotes the distribution of lipase, which prompts the body to process fat and cholesterol, independent of the amount of time spent exercising. They also found that standing up uses blood glucose and may discourage the development of diabetes."
I apologize, I skimmed through that article too quickly.
Nevertheless, I will still hold my position that I was once "Fat", with high cholesterol and could barely hold my own body up. With what I have stated in my post, I am now healthy and can do things that most 20 year olds can not do. So, I guess it works for me pretty well.
Standing helps over sitting in a couple of very specific ways.
Notably, if you have a tendency toward tension in your hip flexor muscules, standing rather than sitting for a few hours a day will really help that. It's less of an artificially compressed position than sitting.
"When combined with a lack of physical activity, the association was even stronger. Women and men who both sat more and were less physically active were 94 percent and 48 percent more likely to die during the study period"
Compared to 37% and 18% when they did workout.
I would call that a pretty significant improvement, and a stupid conclusion. Did you read the article?
As others have mentioned here, science reporting tends to be sensationalist and inaccurate - sometimes less than other times - and I find it's generally more useful to at least skim the abstract of the paper referenced.
(And if possible, look for big obvious holes in the methodology too.)
Regular workouts don't decrease death risk if you're also a couch potato -- http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38385104/ns/health-fitness/
People who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks -- http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-th...
Sitting shuts down the circulation of a fat-absorbing enzyme called lipase -- http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0610-stand_up_for_yo...